Senegal
Capital: Dakar · Western Africa
Senegal, officially the Republic of Senegal, is the westernmost country of mainland West Africa, situated along the Atlantic Ocean coast.
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Floor plan of the fort on the island of Goeree. Key: A-H . Until 1677 the island of Goeree was held by the Dutch, thereafter it went to France.
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This is an image with the theme " Rites and Rituals " from:
Photo: Général Abdoulaye Fall, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source
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Senegal is the westernmost country in the mainland of the Old World, or Afro-Eurasia. It owes its name to the Senegal River, which borders it to the north and east. The climate is typically Sahelian, with a rainy season. Senegal covers a land area of almost 197,000 square kilometres (76,000 sq mi) and has a population of around 18 million. The state is a semi-presidential republic; since the country's foundation in 1960, it has been recognized as one of the most stable countries on the African continent. On the 2024 V-Dem Democracy Indices, Senegal is ranked 68th in electoral democracy worldwide and 10th in electoral democracy in Africa.
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World African Wrestling world tour, Paris Bercy. Mame Balla vs Pape Mor Lô.
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Rhinocéros dans la Réserve de Bandia (Sénégal)
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Etymology
The country of Senegal is named after the Senegal River. The name of the river may derive from a Portuguese transliteration of the name of the Zenaga, also known as the Sanhaja. Alternatively, it could be a combination of the supreme deity in Serer religion (Rog Sene) and o gal, meaning ‘body of water’ in the Serer language. French author and priest David Boilat proposed that the name comes from the Wolof phrase "sunuu gaal", which means "our canoe".
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la cathédrale de Dakar (Sénégal)
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Hotel Kairaba de Saly portudal et sa piscine. Auteur : Jean-Claude Perez
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Thierno Ibrahima Thiello, imam de Ndiawar
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History
Archaeological findings throughout the area indicate that Senegal was inhabited in prehistoric times and has been continuously occupied by various ethnic groups. Some kingdoms were created between the 6th and 14th centuries, such as Takrur in the 6th century, Namandiru, and the Jolof Empire in the 13th and 14th centuries. Eastern Senegal was once part of the Ghana Empire.
Islam was introduced by the Toucouleur and Soninke through their contact with the Almoravid dynasty of the Maghreb, who helped spread it with their Toucouleur allies. This movement faced resistance from ethnicities of traditional religions, the Serers in particular.
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The Senegalese savanna
Photo: KVDP at English Wikipedia, Public domain · source
The Senegalese savanna, also called "la brousse" by the local population, near the city of Joal
Photo: KVDP at English Wikipedia, Public domain · source
Government and politics
Senegal is a republic with a presidency; the president is elected every five years as of 2016, previously being seven years from independence to 2001, five years from 2001 to 2008, and seven years again from 2008 to 2016, by adult voters. The first president, Léopold Sédar Senghor, was a poet and writer, and was the first African elected to the Académie française. Senegal's second president, Abdou Diouf, later served as the organisation's general secretary. The third president was Abdoulaye Wade, a lawyer.
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Geography
Senegal is located on the western coast of Africa. It lies between latitudes 12° and 17°N, and longitudes 11° and 18°W.
Senegal is externally bounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Mauritania to the north, Mali to the east, and Guinea and Guinea-Bissau to the south; internally it almost completely surrounds The Gambia, namely on the north, east and south, except for Gambia's short Atlantic coastline.
The Senegalese landscape consists mainly of the rolling sandy plains of the western Sahel, which rise to foothills in the southeast.
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Economy
Three trans-African automobile routes pass through Senegal:
Cairo-Dakar Highway (1)
Dakar-Ndjamena Highway (5)
Dakar-Lagos Highway (7)
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Demographics
Senegal has a population of about 18 million, of whom about 42 percent live in rural areas. Density in these areas varies from about 77 inhabitants per square kilometre (200/sq mi) in the west-central region to 2 per square kilometre (5.2/sq mi) in the arid eastern section.
Senegal ratified the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, adopted by the United Nations General Assembly, as well as the additional protocol. Senegal is also a signatory to the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights, adopted at the 2003 African Union Summit.
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Culture
Senegal is well known for the West African tradition of storytelling, performed by griots, who have kept West African history alive for thousands of years through words and music. The griot profession is passed down generation to generation and requires years of training and apprenticeship in genealogy, history, and music. Griots give voice to generations of West African society.
The African Renaissance Monument, built in 2010 in Dakar, is the tallest statue in Africa. Dakar also hosts a film festival, Recidak.
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